Malaysia: 25 killed as fire breaks out in religious school in Kuala Lumpur

New Delhi:

At least 25 people, including students, were killed in a fire that broke at a school in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur in the wee hours of Thursday.

The fire broke out in Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah, a religious school located in Malay settlement of Datuk Keramat.

A fire department official told a news agency that 25 people were killed in the incident. Two school wardens were among the dead. He said it was the worst fire incident in the past two decades and they are trying to establish the cause of the incident.

At least 25 people, including students, killed in fire that broke at a school in Kuala Lumpur, reports Reuters

The official further added that the fire broke out in bedrooms and they rushed to the spot.

"It really does not make sense for so many to die in the fire," Khirudin Drahman, director of Kuala Lumpur's fire and rescue department told AFP.

"I think it is one of the country's worst fire disaster in the past 20 years."He said that the number confirmed dead was 23 students and two adult wardens, adding that they could have died due to smoke inhalation or got trapped in the fire."We are now investigating the cause of the fire," he said.

Loga Bala Mohan, the government's federal territories deputy minister, said: "We sympathise with the families. It is one of the worst fires involving so many lives in the capital in recent years.

"We urgently want the authorities to quickly probe the cause of the deadly fire so that we will be able to prevent future disasters."

A fire department official at the scene said that the blaze broke out in bedrooms before dawn, and firefighters from a nearby station were on the scene within minutes.

The Star newspaper reported that the fire and rescue department had raised concerns about fire safety measures at unregistered and private religious schools -- known as tahfiz, and had recorded 211 fires at the institutions since 2015.

In August, 16 people including eight students fled a nearly morning fire at a family-run tahfiz in Baling, in the northern state of Kedah, the paper reported.